The Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference began Yesterday on the campus of the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, FL. We are grateful to have a line-up of great speakers and teachers who will teach, model, and promote expository preaching and teaching. Likewise, the staff and volunteers of Shiloh are ready and excited to serve the guests on our campus this week. Much prayer and planning takes place for this event to make it a special time for all who attend. Cutting it straight kicked off with a bang yesterday, Romell Williams, Charlie Dates and Mark Dever were the joint and general session speakers. The only...

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handing the word of truth. - 2 Timothy 2:15 This week, it will be our joy and privilege to host the fourth annual Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, Florida. This conference exists to train, model, and promote biblical teaching and preaching. In using the term “expository preaching,” the concern is not about a sermon method. It is about how the word of God is handled in preaching and teaching. Beyond the pulpit,...

A Guest Post by Dr. Eugene McCormick The goal of this Christian Education Track is to help the church to fulfill the Great Commission of making stronger disciples of Jesus Christ.  The track is designed to equip pastors, ministers of education, Sunday School directors and teachers, small group facilitators, or any leader tasked with the responsibility of discipleship development in the church. This year marks the first time that a specific track, dedicated to Christian Education, is being added to the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference menu.   Within this track, under the major theme of “Christian Education Matters,” four...

A Guest Post by Joe Pace Colossians 3:16 teaches us that there is an undeniable relationship between the preaching/teaching ministry and music ministry in our worship.  “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Now to be clear, you can sing without the Word; you can play an instrument well without the Word; you can talk without the Word; BUT you simply cannot worship without the Word!  It is only with the truth of God’s word that...

I preached three of morning services yesterday. Then I hightailed it to catch a flight to Los Angeles to meet my family. We traveled home for the weekend to celebrate the retirement of my pastor Melvin Von Wade Sr. has led the Mt. Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Los Angeles for forty-two years. Pastor Wade is a part of the legendary Wade family. His father, Dr. J.C. Wade Sr., pastored the Salem Baptist Church in Omaha, Nebraska for nearly half a century. During this pastorate, Wade Sr. developed a reputation as one of the leading African-American preachers in the country....

A Guest Post By Crystal Charles “Hear, O women, the word of the LORD, and let your ear receive the word from His mouth”-Jeremiah 9:20 When Cutting It Straight (CIS) began, we offered one class for women on Biblical Womanhood. Last year, by the leading of the Holy Spirit we added the Women’s Track to the conference to minister to, equip, and encourage women. The Women’s track is designed for women who have the responsibility of teaching the Bible regularly and leading other women, including pastors’ wives, women’s ministry leaders, Sunday school teachers, and small group facilitators. Just as the...

A Guest Post By Joshua Eggerson. I believe that the state of our youth ministries to a great degree shows a picture of the future of our churches. Additionally, statistics are increasingly showing that Millennials, those born between 1980-2005, are the most “unchurched” generation in American History and with that the most biblically illiterate. It is the task of youth pastors to present the Gospel to a generation of sceptics and relativists who see Jesus as one of many spiritual options. To combat this, the church doesn’t need “cooler youth ministry” but rather we need capable, competent and qualified men...

September 19-21, 2017, it will be my joy and privilege to host the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville (FL), where I serve as pastor. Cutting It Straight exists to train, model, and promote biblical preaching and teaching. This year there will be tracks for those who lead and serve in Christian Education (Sunday School), Worship & Arts, Women’s Ministry (including Ministers’ Wives), and Students Ministry. Yet our focus remains the same. We want to help all church leaders develop a biblical philosophy of ministry. Everyone should cut it straight! I am excited about...

How can I forgive myself? The most faithful response to this question is the reject it as an illegitimate question. The biblical teaching about forgiveness can be summarized in two main ideas: God forgives sinners freely, completely, and sacrificially. Ultimately, divine forgiveness is paid for by the cross of Christ. Christians must forgive those who wrong us, as God has forgiven us for the sake of Christ. That’s it. Sermon over. There is not third point. God has forgiven us and we must forgive others. Period. There are more than 125 direct references to forgiveness in the Bible. But the...

I spent two days this week on the campus on the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We were invited by David Miller, President of the 2017 SBC Pastors' Conference, as his team reviewed the conference. We were hosted by the NOTBS Caskey Center. Grateful for David Miller's kindness. And I am excited about leading the 2018 Pastors Conference! I wrote an article this week about a challenge every preacher will face at some time or another: Preaching Under Pressure  Make sure you check out the Tellis Chapman Interview. It is full of wisdom for pastors and preachers! This week's episode...

  I drove to my pastor’s office to tell him I was going to resign my church. He asked what did I plan to do next. I did not have a plan. I told him I may become a talk-show host. It didn’t matter. I just wanted out! I desired to get married, finish my education, and move on with my life and ministry. I had wasted enough of my youth in congregational conflict. My pastor told me he knew what the problem was. I just wanted to get up to preach one Sunday in peace. He warned me, however,...

It was a joy to preach "Marvelous Mondays" for Barry Crocker at the Cumming Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia. I was originally scheduled to preach this meeting last week; but Pastor Crocker graciously moved my night back so that I would not miss Monday's session of the SBC Pastors' Conference in Phoenix last week. I am grateful for my friend Terry Brown, who preached the Midweek Services this week at Shiloh Church, as my family and I went on vacation. Check out my latest article: A Faithful Steward of My Other "Pulpit"  In this week's episode of The On Preaching...